Shiitake Happens
by MsLane
Summary: "What are your thoughts on cooking?" Beca blinks a couple of times, just to make sure she's awake, and slowly turns away from her desk to face the redhead, "My thoughts…on cooking?" she asks slowly, eyes not leaving Chloe's to gauge just how serious the question is.


"What are your thoughts on cooking?"

Beca blinks a couple of times, just to make sure she's awake, and slowly turns away from her desk to face the redhead, "My thoughts…on cooking?" she asks slowly, eyes not leaving Chloe's to gauge just how serious the question is.

Chloe nods at her very seriously as she steps into her room, taking a seat on Beca's bed, "Yes. Like…your thoughts. What you think about it."

Beca snorts, "Yeah, thanks for elaborating. I-cooking is a must? Like, without the process of cooking, we'd have no meals and then I'd have nothing to eat."

She isn't entirely sure what Chloe is looking for with her question, but whatever it is, she's pretty sure the answer has nothing to do with what she just said.

Chloe doesn't make her feel like a total dork though, because she just nods and takes it in before saying, "I thought you'd say as much. Thanks Becs!" She hops off of the bed and walks out of the room, leaving behind a still very confused Beca.

"What the hell just happened?" Beca asks out loud, staring after the now long gone redhead.

She needn't have worried about it though because Beca gets her answer the very next day.

"Seriously? Dude, I _don't_ cook."

Chloe drops the hand she was holding onto as she pulled Beca into the kitchen and nods her head, "Yes, seriously. You said cooking was important because it basically means you get food."

"I didn't mean that I wanted to be the one doing the cooking." Beca says seriously, taking in the number of cookbooks that are scattered around the counters, along with an impressive number of pots and pans.

"You wont be the only one cooking Becs. I totally will be _right_ here with you."

Beca just stands there and watches Chloe clear some space on the counter and turns to face her with a look of absolute delight, and beckons her closer, "Come on, it's gonna be fun!"

Beca is still skeptical but she carefully walks over so she's standing beside her, "What exactly are we going to attempt cooking?"

Chloe's face, if possible, lights up even further, "So you'll do this with me?" She asks excitedly, bright eyes searching Beca's.

The brunette rolls her eyes, but there's a grin playing at her lips, "Like I've got a choice."

Chloe steps impossibly closer to Beca so that they're toe to toe as she very earnestly says, "You've _always_ got a choice Beca."

Beca blinks, surprised by the serious tone the conversation suddenly took, "I…well yeah I know. Thanks…I guess?"

Chloe shakes her head minutely, before asking, "Do you really know though? Because if you don't want to do this, you really don't have to. I just wanted to be able to do something together. Something you wouldn't mind. So like, if you don't want to do this, I'll think of something else, no big deal. I just want to spend time with you."

Beca's heart summersaults in her chest at that.

No one has gone through as much trouble trying to find something they'd both enjoy that wasn't just the usual movie and pizza.

Most of her hangouts with people would consist of movies and she'd sit through things quietly because Beca wants to be around her friends. No one has ever taken her dislike for movies to heart like Chloe and used it as a way to figure out something else they could do to bond.

"No. I mean…I'd love to do this with you Chlo. This could be quite the adventure."

Chloe's face lights up and she can't help herself when she places her hands on Beca's upper arms and squeezes as she excitedly says, "I promise, we'll have _so_ much fun Becs! _And_ we'll get to spend time together and eat great food!"

Beca can't help smiling back at Chloe, her smiling being so infectious, as she chuckles out, "Let's do this then. I can't wait for this 'great food' you speak of."

"Okay so…just to start us off, I thought we could go easy- we'll make meatballs!" Chloe says as she turns and grabs one of the cookbooks and flips it open, turning it so Beca can see.

"That…looks like something I'd never be able to recreate." Beca says after a second, staring at the pages of the book, taking in the glossy picture of the most perfect looking Roman style meatballs she's ever seen.

"Well not with that attitude. We have to get into the proper attire though, first and foremost, so here you go." Chloe says as she quickly procures two aprons and hands one to Beca after taking a quick look.

Beca has to take a moment so she can school her face to one of unamusement as she takes in the graphics on her apron.

"'Shiitake happens'. Cute. Real cute Chloe." The tone of amusement slips as she says this, and looking back up into Chloe's eyes makes her grin appear on her face as Chloe giggles.

"I thought you'd get a kick out of that." Chloe says as she slips her own apron on and ties it up behind her back.

"Oh my God, Chloe!" Beca says as she laughs when she reads what's on her companion's apron.

"What?" Chloe asks, feigning ignorance as she puts her hands on her hips and quirks an eyebrow, a smirk playing at her lips.

"That's so ridiculously you, I'm amazed you didn't have it made personally." Beca says with a wide grin on her face, taking in the adorable apron Chloe is sporting.

The words 'Where there's a _whisk,_ there's a way' are set up with a whisk on either side of the word, and the pun is so Chloe that Beca can't help but love it even more.

Chloe giggles as she tucks her hair behind her ear as she smiles graciously at Beca, "Why thank you! I fell in love with it immediately!" After a beat she continues, " Well put yours on, we've got lunch to conquer!"

Beca rolls her eyes playfully, before slipping the apron around her neck and fussing with the strings for a little while before just letting them fall to her side as she steps up beside Chloe, "What first?"

Chloe, about to answer, glances at her and notices the untied apron, "Need a hand with those?"

Beca, unsure of what she's talking about doesn't answer immediately, but Chloe doesn't wait. She steps behind her and takes hold of the strings and ties everything up into a nice snug bow behind her back and gives her a quick pat before moving away, "There. Okay, first we need to grab the ingredients…" she looks to Beca at this and silently asks if she's ready.

The brunette gives her a tiny wink and nods her head, "Hit me."

Xoxoxo

"You know, for a first time thing, these turned out surprisingly well." Stacie says as she carefully ladles some more spaghetti onto her plate.

Beca grins behind her forkful, but Chloe is beaming with pride, "Thank you! I'm glad you think so. And we can only get better from here, right Becs?"

The brunette hums her reply, trying to be very lowkey about just how much she enjoyed herself with Chloe in the kitchen.

"The only thing is…you're gonna need to figure out a way to not have the kitchen end up looking like a warzone." Cynthia Rose says, happily twirling her spaghetti around her fork, but pausing as she fixes the both of them with a look, "Seriously, I mean, I know ya'll know _that_ isn't how shit's supposed to look."

Chloe chuckles as she brushes it off, "It'll be better next time, it was just first-time nerves."

Beca's ears are burning and she knows it's because of the mad blush that's taking over her face and chest, because of what Chloe just said, but she's still grinning stupidly.

Chloe's excitement at having created something edible together is enough to make anyone smile.

"Look, I don't care if you two end up making an even bigger mess next time. If _this_ is what comes out of the kitchen, it's _so_ worth it." Amy exclaims as she sits back with a very satisfied look on her face, nursing her glass of Boone's Farm.

"Alright then, if it ends up looking like that again, _you_ can be the one cleaning it up." Denise says teasingly, knowing that Fat Amy was going to backtrack at that.

" _Or_ BeChloe can make it so they don't make a mess again." Fat Amy says as she leans forward and looks between both Chloe and Beca waiting for an affirmation from them on the matter.

The two women share a smile before simply shrugging. Beca continues with a smirk, "We make no promises."

Xoxoxo

Over the course of a month, Beca and Chloe have managed to get wrangled into cooking dinner for the Bellas every day, sometimes even managing lunch on the weekend.

And Beca can't, for the life of her, bring herself to even pretend to hate it. Chloe has been fantastically patient with her and between them, they've managed a working routine.

The brunette knows that the redhead knows how to cook, and is only doing this so that they can spend time together, and really she should have known that that was the case a lot earlier. For some reason, she had initially thought that they were both beginners.

No one is _that_ good at finely dicing onions. And no one knows the fancy term for dicing them so small, unless they've learned.

And Chloe knows the fancy term.

It's Brunoise.

And if Beca would be totally honest, she had a little bit of a moment when Chloe said that French word so easily, like it was second nature.

Beca's sitting on the counter, idly flipping through a cookbook, when Chloe comes back home.

"Oh hey! I didn't think you'd be down here already, I usually have time to change." Chloe says easily, a smile on her face as she nonchalantly drops a kiss to Beca's cheek in greeting before grabbing a glass of water.

Beca can't help the blush, but she doesn't let it deter her. She smiles back at Chloe, "You can go ahead and change Chlo, there's no rush. I'll be here."

Chloe finishes off her drink and places the empty glass on the counter and quickly flashes Beca a bright smile and a quick wink before hurrying off, "Be right back."

Beca shakes her head after her, and the only thought running through her mind is, 'of course I had to fall for the dorkiest goober I could find. The most adorable of dorky goobers.'

And it's a testament to just how far she's come with her own emotions, to be able to think that and not mentally freak out. It wasn't the easiest of things to realize about herself.

Figuring out that you've got it bad for your best friend isn't ever easy.

But once she did figure it out, it made things make a lot more sense. Beca had never before felt _so_ much for another person before. Male or female. No one has ever made her want to try so hard and want to make an effort. It wasn't just a crush, and it most certainly wasn't just the physical attraction.

She very deeply feels strongly about Chloe Beale, and there's nothing in the world that will ever make those feelings go away.

And that should scare her half to death.

But all it does is keep her up at night, imagining mixes, and dreaming about a future where she'd get to have Chloe as more than just a friend. Where they'd be something more.

"Alrighty boo, what're you thinkin?" Chloe asks as she breezily makes her way towards the brunette.

Beca blinks owlishly at her as she watches Chloe tie her apron on.

"Thinking? I wasn't thinking anything…I was just sitting here, _not_ thinking."

Chloe raises an eyebrow at her and tilts her head, "I meant…What were you thinking to make for dinner…" she grins and teases, "but I'm glad you're so adamant that you've got nothing going on in that fantastic mind of yours."

Beca's face flushes brilliantly and Chloe coos at her which doesn't help, nor does Chloe gently taking hold of Beca's face between her hands, "You're adorable." Chloe strokes Beca's heated cheeks with her thumbs before tapping gently and saying, "What do you feel like making for dinner?"

Beca holds her breath for a beat before releasing it and even though Chloe is still pretty close, she finds that she's able to ground herself thanks to Chloe's eyes boring into hers.

"I think…I'd like to try making chicken parm."

Chloe gives her a dazzling smile, nods her head and brushes a kiss against Beca's forehead and says, "Alright then, hop down and get your apron on. Let's get this party started!"

Beca sucks in a breath, as Chloe finally moves away to the pantry to grab the ingredients, and slides down from the counter and groans under her breath, "Worst. Crush. Ever."

She doesn't mean that in the slightest.

Xoxoxoxox

The dinner is once again a success and really Beca isn't surprised because no way was Chloe going to let anything go wrong. She had her back.

And she's just thinking that when Chloe stumbles into the living room and nearly sits on her.

"Oh my God! Beca! Shit, I didn't see you there! I almost pulverized you!" Chloe exclaims as she jumps up from where she was just about to sit and takes a seat in front of the brunette on the coffee table, her hands migrating to Beca's to ensure she's okay.

Beca just laughs at the situation as she takes hold of Chloe's hands and calms her down a bit, "Don't worry bout it Red, you couldn't have pulverized me, you weigh like nothing; and it's alright, I didn't think anyone would be comin down now so I didn't think I had to announce I was here."

Chloe shakes her head before going to sit beside the brunette, gently maneuvering her left arm so that she's got it wrapped around Beca's shoulders as she takes hold of Beca's right hand in hers.

"What are you even doing up so late?"

Beca allows a little smile to cross her face at Chloe's obvious concern and turns so she's looking up at her and says, "I could ask you the same thing."

"I couldn't sleep, and I just thought maybe if I just came out here to look out at the stars maybe I'd either wind up falling asleep, or getting tired enough to haul myself back to my own bed." Chloe's answer is sincere and one Beca wasn't expecting.

"You know you can always come by to my room, right?" Beca asks quietly, turning her face so she's not looking at Chloe any longer.

Chloe squeezes her shoulder to get her attention and when Beca looks back at her, Chloe is giving her a smile, "I did. You weren't there. This was my second option."

Beca's cheeks flush as she oh's, causing Chloe to chuckle and nod her head, "Yeah 'oh'. But I found you. What about you though, why aren't you up in your room?"

Shrugging her shoulders noncommittally, Beca says quietly, "I just didn't really feel like staying up in my room. I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep soon, so why not come down here and just chill. Maybe see if I can catch one of the girls tryin to sneak in or out of the house."

Chloe chuckles and cuddles closer to Beca as they both fall into silence.

"Why didn't you tell me you could really cook?"

It's minutes later when Beca softly breaks the comfortable silence.

She feels Chloe stiffen slightly, but it's more from the surprise of the silence being broken than anything else.

She relaxes a bit and shrugs as her left hand commences drawing lazy patterns against Beca's shoulder, "I didn't really think it mattered. I wasn't intentionally keeping it a secret from you or anything. I just didn't want it to be the reason you wouldn't want to do this with me."

"You could have totally showed off your skills a lot earlier." Beca says next, pulling their joined hands into her lap and fiddling with Chloe's fingers.

"I didn't want to put you off. Knowing how to cook or not, I wouldn't have wanted to spend time with someone who only wanted to show off. This was something I wanted us both to enjoy…showing off right off the bat? You'd have left me to my own devices." Chloe says, slightly teasing, slightly not.

"Yeah, I'll admit, I'm still kind of in awe at the fact that you haven't run out of the kitchen when faced with such a dweeb like me in the kitchen."

Chloe giggles and leans her head against Beca's, "You're adorable in the kitchen, and you're actually really good. You made dinner all on your own tonight. All I did was grab ingredients for you. I'm pretty sure the student is now the master."

Beca laughs lightly and bumps her head lightly against Chloe's, "No way dude, I've still got miles and piles to go."

"You still want to keep doing this with me?" Chloe asks, the surprise evident in her tone.

Beca gently turns just enough to be able to properly see Chloe's face as she nods, squeezing her hand for emphasis, "Dude, this is like the most chill way to bond with you and there's absolutely no way you're gonna get me to stop wanting to hang out with you while we make crazy mad good food together."

Chloe's smile pretty much lights up the dark living room and Beca loves that she's the one that got her to smile like that.

"Besides," Beca continues, "anyone who's as patient as you are with me, obviously loves doing this. And I'd never want to be the one to take this away from you."

Chloe's eyes tear up just slightly as she pulls Beca into a tight hug, "The reason I love doing this is because I'm doing this with _you_. I-the only reason I even came up with this idea was because…I just really wanted something that could just be ours, you know? Is that cheesy?" Chloe stiffens and drops her arm from holding Beca close, "That's probably insanely cheesy, God, I'm so sorry." She tries pushing away from the hug to alleviate the awkward.

Beca laughs under her breath slightly and shakes her head and hugs Chloe tighter, "Dude…" Chloe stops trying to distance herself at that, realizing Beca was absolutely on board with the prolonged hugging and the mush-fest that they're partaking in.

"I know."

That's all Beca whispers and Chloe melts further into the hug, waiting for more.

"I figured that that was the reason behind it that very first day when you very seriously expressed that I had a choice and that I didn't have to do this with you if I didn't want to, because the reason you came up with it, is so we could spend more time together. I wanted this to be something that was ours too."

Beca moves back just so, and Chloe follows suit, just far enough so they can properly see each other.

"You're incredibly special Chlo. I mean that." She grins slightly as she continues, "Pretty much the biggest dork I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, but you're so special to me Chloe. And I wish you knew just how much spending this time with you has come to mean to me. And how much I appreciate you for even coming up with this idea."

Chloe shrugs, trying to play it cool, but really she's jumping up and down internally at the moment. But then her eyes widen, "Why…why does it sound like you wont be spending time with me anymore? You just- I thought you just said you still wanted to cook with me?"

Beca's own eyes widen and she nods quickly, trying to fix the situation, "Oh dude, no! I mean yes! Yes! I do still want to cook with you, I'm just saying I'm loving it all, past and hopefully well into the future. I didn't mean for it to sound like I don't want to do it anymore."

Chloe calms down immensely at that, and her eyes twinkle mischievously, "So you do?"

"I do?" Beca asks, eyebrow raised slightly, not sure she likes the look Chloe is giving her.

"You do want to do it?"

Beca gulps and rolls her eyes all at once as she groans out, "Chloe."

The redhead giggles and pulls her in close for a hug and kisses her cheek as she pulls back, "You're so cute."

With that she slowly disentangles herself and slowly stands up, stretching her arms up, causing her shirt to ride up showing off a sliver of toned stomach, and Beca really needs to stop ogling her best friend.

"I think I'm going to head to bed now…we could continue in your room if you're still too awake to sleep? I'll try and stay up until you're tuckered out too." Chloe says innocently, watching Beca as she blinks up at her before nodding slowly.

"Sure yeah…but I mean, it's totally fine if you just wanna head to bed. I'll sort out my sudden insomnia."

But Chloe just smiles at her beautifully and gently takes her hand and guides them up to Beca's room, where she commences to turn down the lights and then the bed before gently tugging Beca over to the bed and laying down beside her.

Beca just feels suddenly so overwhelmed with feelings and she has to fight to keep them down, but Chloe senses the shift and wraps her arms around her waist and pulls her close and Beca just can't help the tears.

Emotions and vulnerability and feelings have never really had a place in Beca's world. Not since she started pushing everyone and everything away so she could save herself some heartache.

So coming into this situation, where for the first time in all of her life, she feels completely at peace with who she is and who she's with, she can't believe her luck. Beca doesn't know what she could have possibly done to deserve such a precious gift of a person, but she's just so thankful to have her in her life, regardless of the context.

"You just-I'm just so happy. And I don't know if I've ever felt so happy in my entire life…because I'm just me and you're still just you and you're still around and I'm just so…" she trails off, unable to find a word.

"Happy." Chloe provides gently, a gorgeous smile on her face as she whispers it against Beca and the brunette nods adamantly.

" _Yes_. Yes exactly." Beca whispers back, her eyes twinkling from the tears that have just been shed.

Chloe gently wipes the remnants of the tears off of her cheeks and holds her hand there, "You're so precious Becs, and you deserve all the happiness in the entire world."

Beca's eyes dart between Chloe's and she sees how sincere she's being and, "I love that about you."

Chloe furrows her brow and Beca rolls her eyes at herself because of course her mouth would decide to speak out of turn and cause confusion.

"I love how sincere you are. I love how you're so passionate, it just…I really love that about you." Beca provides by way of explanation.

Chloe blushes, and she's thankful the room is mostly too dark to make out the change of color on her cheeks, "I mean it Beca. And if I could, I'd totally give you that happiness, completely and right away."

Beca's heart skips a beat and she's pretty sure Chloe felt it too.

There comes a time when everyone is faced with the need to make a decision. The options are clear as day, as are the outcomes for the most part, and this situation is a turning point; Beca knows this.

"I-you could." Beca whispers, and she gulps after she says it, her heart now hammering a mad beat against her chest.

Chloe's heart isn't fairing much better, her hand unconsciously strokes Beca's cheek, "I could."

It's more a statement that a question. She's telling Beca she will, all Beca needs to do is ask.

"I mean…it would make me incredibly happy, so much more so than I already am with you being my best friend, if…if maybe you and I could…if we could maybe try giving _us_ a chance?"

Beca knows that that most certainly wasn't one of her smoothest moments.

She groans right after she says this and she frantically whispers out, "Wait. Just…wait don't say anything. I can do better than that."

Chloe doesn't say anything, nor does she move. Her mind is reeling and she's absolutely giddy because she's pretty sure Beca has just asked her to be her girlfriend.

"It would make me really happy if you would give me a chance at wooing you…if you would, allow me to hopefully make it to being your girlfriend. I'd…I'd like that very much and I'd hope you would too." Beca finally manages to get out.

Chloe still doesn't say anything, just laying there staring at Beca with an unreadable look on her face.

The fact that it's unreadable really messes with Beca because she's become an expert on all things Chloe, and the fact that right now, right when it counts the most, she can't read her? She's not fairing very well.

Until Chloe is leaning in and slowly and gently kissing her with the softest pair of lips Beca's ever had the privilege of kissing.

"I would _love_ to be able to call you my girlfriend." Chloe whispers as she slowly leans back away from Beca, just enough so that she can say those words, effectively causing her lips to brush against Beca's as she whispers that.

"God that's so hot." Beca can't help her lack of filter, and honestly, when it causes Chloe to giggle and lean back in for another kiss, she couldn't care less.


End file.
